Thread: Taxi 'scum' charges 500 baht for a 250 metre journey

agree.
my wife gets in altrecations because of the language barrier too, and she's Thai!!! lol.

I know its hard for tourists but I never get in a cab till the driver nods n says khrup.

my first words to him that require a nod are "Ow meter khrup".

@adzt1 - Phuket Airport 'limousines' do not have meters....

Simon

250 meters? shouldve asked them to walk

^^^ahh good point.

I haven't been to Phuket for 6 years but,,

neither do the airport limousines at BKK,
so on arrival I always walk up to departures area and look for a taxi that has just dropped someone off.
they are always more than willing to charge a fair price . I.e on the meter.

can that not be done in Phuket ?

My hotel in Patong picks me up for free. Maybe get a motor Simon.

Originally Posted by Rural Surin

Originally Posted by Simon43

With scum, greedy and extremely stupid taxi drivers like this, what hope has Phuket of ever solving it's corruption/poor service issues?

Simon

An alternative would be to provide an "in-house" independent shuttle service...certainly at least would pay for itself [break even].

Though wouldn't be financially viable when you add in the hospital fees for the driver and monthly repair bill for smashed windows and panels.

Originally Posted by adzt1

neither do the airport limousines at BKK,

No, but they have fixed rates, which are displayed for anyone to see.

Originally Posted by adzt1

so on arrival I always walk up to departures area and look for a taxi that has just dropped someone off.
they are always more than willing to charge a fair price . I.e on the meter.

As are all the taxis at the proper taxi rank.

limousine 1000bt. taxi meter on level 4 are 200bt.

where's the taxi rank at bkk that charge on the meter.

and that was just my opinion ,,,, my question was ,cannot that be done in Phuket ??

uve got all the answers so ????? answer it , rather that picking the bones out

I do provide a free 24/7 pick-up and drop-off service from the airport (and NaiYang beach) - have done for years because of this very problem.

The fly in the ointment is that my major source of online bookings (Agoda.com) 'owns' the customer and will not provide any contact details for me to check if that customers needs to use the free shuttle service.

So, if the customer doesn't provide pick-up details at time of room booking, it's impossible for me to contact them and they are at the mercy of the taxi scum.

I've hassled Agoda about this on several occasions but they will not change their policy - unlike Booking.com who do provide me with the customer's email address.

Simon

Make a PDF file with a mudmap and instructions written in Thai. Email it to your bookings and tell them to print it out and give to the kon kap rot or show it to him on their iPad.

edit - ^guess this won't work then

Maybe see if Agoda will pass the PDF on for all your bookings

Originally Posted by adzt1

where's the taxi rank at bkk that charge on the meter

There is only one taxi rank, the one where all the signs point too, I think it's on the 1st floor....

Originally Posted by Simon43

I do provide a free 24/7 pick-up and drop-off service from the airport (and NaiYang beach) - have done for years because of this very problem.

The fly in the ointment is that my major source of online bookings (Agoda.com) 'owns' the customer and will not provide any contact details for me to check if that customers needs to use the free shuttle service.

So, if the customer doesn't provide pick-up details at time of room booking, it's impossible for me to contact them and they are at the mercy of the taxi scum.

I've hassled Agoda about this on several occasions but they will not change their policy - unlike Booking.com who do provide me with the customer's email address.

Simon

I provide the same service to my resort, for a stay of 3 nights or longer, and have this same problem with Agoda.

What do they think, that I'm going to email the guest and tell them to cancel their booking with them and book directly through me?

I'd be cutting my own throat. But I get pissed off because I don't know when they are arriving, and can't offer this unique service.

Some customers end up paying 1,000 baht to the resort from the airport, which about twice the going rate.

Originally Posted by Looper

Make a PDF file with a mudmap and instructions written in Thai. Email it to your bookings and tell them to print it out and give to the kon kap rot or show it to him on their iPad.

Thais are generally too stupid to understand maps, the Thai language and how to breathe and walk at the same time.

@Looper - Agoda will not allow that - their strict policy is that they 'own' the customer.

In any case, the customer voucher has our full address, contact phone AND map on it already!!

However (see original post), the taxi drivers are totally fcuking stupid and cannot read maps......

The only viable solution (which works for me for many years), is to ensure that no taxi driver or minibus tries to come to our hotel. (For minibus drivers, I get them to drop guests at the airport and we meet them their).

So I'm pressing Agoda to put bold text on our listing telling guests to give their flight arrival details..

(In most countries, the airport taxis actually provide a useful service, but apparently not in Phuket - they are a fcuking pain. When the One2Go plane crashed a few years back and the airport was closed, the airport taxi guys were bringing passengers to the airport from Patong/Kata, even though they knew the airport was closed, because they were then able to get a return fare back to Patong! Scum, total scum)

Simon

The complete corruption and cartel like behaviour which you read about Phuket in the news every other day is why I never have bothered to visit.

Quite clever really. Play dumb, make three times the money. And the Westerners then laugh at how 'dumb' you are.

Originally Posted by The Master Cool

Quite clever really. Play dumb, make three times the money. And the Westerners then laugh at how 'dumb' you are.

Not a very good long term business plan though is it, for them and Phuket as a whole.

Short sighted business practices are all too common here. Not in Phuket but this last weekend a hotel tried to charge me 500 baht for landing on "their beach" even though we were buying food and drinks at the resort restaurant. They got their 500 baht, but all it will mean is that every time I go there in the future I will just stay on the beach and not buy anything from the resort at all. They can't stop me or charge me for visiting the beach as it is public land.

Another example, I parked on a public road (in marked spaces) in front of a seafood restaurant but went into another one next door. When I returned to my car I noticed they had placed a rock with a nail under my back tire. Great way to treat potential customers who eat in the area frequently, the only thing they achieved is never receiving any of our business.

Originally Posted by madjbs

a hotel tried to charge me 500 baht for landing on "their beach" even though we were buying food and drinks at the resort restaurant. They got their 500 baht, but all it will mean is that every time I go there in the future I will just stay on the beach and not buy anything from the resort at all. They can't stop me or charge me for visiting the beach as it is public land.

Hmmm.

I refused to pay it but someone else in our group paid so as not to cause a problem. By that time we were already sat in the hotel too, which they can charge us to enter if they wish, although at the time they were making out it was a "landing fee". Next time I won't be going off the beach and they sure as hell won't get any landing fee from me for using a public beach.

Originally Posted by Looper

My hotel in Patong picks me up for free. Maybe get a motor Simon.

This is a good idea. Why not pick up your guests and build it into your costs and at the same time build good will with your customers which in turn will provide you more customers through word of mouth. Not hard.

Provide free pick up if your guests book a minimum of three nights is a good place to start.

A sound business decision in my books

^

Urm, you do that already. Sorry bout that.

Make a complaint to the Gov, he said he's always interested in the welfare of us farang, I think not